Bsu Gets Endowed Chair

With an endowment of $610,000 from more than 1,000 different donors, the Frank Church Endowment has become the first endowed chair at Boise State University.

Jane Ollenburger, dean of the College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs, announced the endowment Monday at the annual Frank Church Conference on Public Affairs.

Church, the last Democratic Party U.S. senator elected from Idaho, won a Senate seat in a hotly contested 1956 election and served until he lost the seat to Republican Steve Symms in 1980. Church died of pancreatic cancer in 1984.

Ollenburger said the endowment drive has been going on for 15 years. The goal is to get another $1 million in donations to hire a full-time faculty member to fill the chair position.

Since 1983, dividends from the endowment have funded the annual Frank Church Conference, which examines foreign policy and environmental issues. Church was interested in both areas during his 24 years in the U.S. Senate and served as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in his final years in the Senate.

More than 600 people attended Monday night’s conference, featuring former Oregon Sen. Mark Hatfield.

Ollenburger said Church favored debate on complex issues so the public could understand decisions faced by the country.